The Basketball Tournament- Always a Brave in Illinois Region

[Mikovio]

Donte Thomas --

https://twitter.com/OnceABrave/statu...272150535?s=20

[Tommy]

Man, that is a great clip of Donte dunking. I remember when he was the only holdover from the Geno era and I thought, 'eh, big deal, he's not that good'. Man was I wrong. He turned into a real stud for us under Wardle's tutelage.

Gonna be hard to find playing time with this Braves team. Getting a pretty crowded roster!

[Bradley3342]

Hersey Hawkins and Jim Les are also unavailable.

Well crap! Would love to see Hersey running that pro turnout again!

[Da Coach]

One more roster addition for Always a Brave-
The hero of the 2019 MVC Tournament Championship game win over UNI, Luqman Lundy-
https://twitter.com/OnceABrave/statu...85365044387842




Always A Brave roster reportedly will include:
Auston Barnes (2013-15)
Tony Bennett (2004-06)
Darrell Brown, Jr. (2016-20)
Nate Kennell (2016-20)
Walt Lemon, Jr. (2010-14)
Luqmon Lundy (2017-19)
Patrick O'Bryant (2004-06)
Donte Thomas (2014-18 )
Marcellus Sommerville (2004-06)
Andrew Warren (2007-11)
Max Bielfeldt (Michigan 2011-15, Indiana 2015-16)
Jimmy Gavin (BU 2012-13, UW-Parkside, Winthrop 2015-16)
Daniel Ruffin (2003-08 ) head coach
Chuck Buescher '67 assistant coach.

[Da Coach]

Always a Brave confirms that Darrel Brown will be on the roster-

https://twitter.com/OnceABrave/status/1396816373171593221

[Da Coach]

Article from Bradley Scout-

https://www.bradleyscout.com/sports/bradley-peoria-buzzing-as-the-basketball-tournament-regional-comes-to-town/

[Da Coach]

Always a Brave team page with links to team merchandise-
https://thetournament.com/teams/alwa...radley-alumni/

Always a Brave will play in the Illinois Regional, July 24-28, at the Peoria Civic Center.
The schedule & matchups have not been released yet, but it appears the tournament will release the bracket Monday (6/21)-
https://twitter.com/thetournament/st...35243262103559

Games will be televised on ESPN networks.
Tournament home page--> https://thetournament.com/
Tickets can be purchased here--> https://www.ticketmaster.com/the-bas...artist/2008499

[Da Coach]

Always a Brave team page with links to team merchandise-
https://thetournament.com/teams/alwa...radley-alumni/

...
Always A Brave roster reportedly will include:
Auston Barnes (2013-15)https://thetournament.com/teams/jackson-tn-underdawgs/
Tony Bennett (2004-06)
Darrell Brown, Jr. (2016-20)
Nate Kennell (2016-20)
Walt Lemon, Jr. (2010-14)
Luqmon Lundy (2017-19)
Patrick O'Bryant (2004-06)
Donte Thomas (2014-18 )
Marcellus Sommerville (2004-06)
Andrew Warren (2007-11)
Max Bielfeldt (Michigan 2011-15, Indiana 2015-16)
Jimmy Gavin (BU 2012-13, UW-Parkside, Winthrop 2015-16)
Daniel Ruffin (2003-08 ) head coach
Chuck Buescher '67 assistant coach.

Note that The Basketball Tournament roster page for Always a Brave does not show Auston Barnes or Walt Lemon, who were previously announced to be participating. Hopefully, they are still playing.
https://thetournament.com/teams/alwa...radley-alumni/

But, the Always a Brave team now shows 3 recently added new names- Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Luuk van Bree, and Lou Griffith.
Note that the Bradley announcement below does not mention these three, nor Walt Lemon or Auston Barnes.

And The Basketball Tournament's schedule and matchups for 1st round games was just released-
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2021/...announced.aspx

Always a Brave received a #7 seed in the Illinois Regional and will play their first game July 24 at 6:00 pm against #10 seed Tubby Time. This is their first year in the tournament-
Tubby time roster- https://thetournament.com/teams/tubby-time/

Also, the alumni team from University of Illinois, #2 seed House of 'Paign, will play their 1st round game July 24 at 1:00 pm against the #15 seed Jackson TN Underdawgs.
If the Bradley and Illinois teams win, they will advance to meet each other in the 2nd round on July 26 at 8:00 pm.

Here is the complete bracket. The Illinois Regional will be played at Carver Arena in Peoria, July 24 & 25-

https://bracket.thetournament.com/

Note the #1 seed in the Illinois Regional is last year's overall TBT champion (2021) Golden Eagles (Marquette alumni).
The 64 TBT Teams- https://thetournament.com/teams/

And one other team in the Illinois Regional will be the Peoria All-Stars. Check out their roster. One of their players will be former Bradley star Zach Andrews!-

https://thetournament.com/teams/peoria-all-stars/

Tickets- https://www.ticketmaster.com/the-bas...artist/2008499
Always a Brave team merchandise store- https://www.bsnteamsports.com/shop/ALWSBRV1

[LittleBrave]

Can someone please remind me who Lou Griffith is?
It's eating at me that as avid a Braves fan as I am, I can't remember this guy.

[Da Coach]

Can someone please remind me who Lou Griffith is?
It's eating at me that as avid a Braves fan as I am, I can't remember this guy.

Lou was a fine player for Washington High School and graduated in 2016. He had multiple Division II offers but decided to take a preferred walk-on spot at Bradley -

https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/lou-griffith/9182

He was a freshman on the team in 2016-17, but redshirted that year, and thus never played for Bradley. After spending that one season at Bradley in 2016-17, he transferred to Lincoln College and played there one season. Then he transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas College, a Division II school in Sparkill, NY, and he played there for 3 seasons (2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21).

Because of the NCAA's new rule granting an extra season of eligibility to NCAA players, Lou still has one more season he could play. He already graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas, and has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, but so far he has not committed anywhere.

https://verbalcommits.com/players/lou-griffith

[Mikovio]

Lemon is on Team 23’s roster. They’re a 6 seed in the West Virginia region and have 3 ex NBAers.

https://thetournament.com/teams/team-23/

[Big Mike]

Lemon is on Team 23’s roster. They’re a 6 seed in the West Virginia region and have 3 ex NBAers.

https://thetournament.com/teams/team-23/

Oouucchh......was looking forward to Walt.

[Dub]

Real happy to see DLO and LVB!
Walt is a real effective player, but not sure how the chem would have been.

[Mikovio]

Disappointing for sure that Walt won't be there but this team is plenty talented. Walt didn't play with anybody else on this roster except Barnes and was not a fan of sharing the ball (to be fair, he didn't have many assist options during his tenure here).

[Tommy]

Disappointing for sure that Walt won't be there but this team is plenty talented. Walt didn't play with anybody else on this roster except Barnes and was not a fan of sharing the ball (to be fair, he didn't have many assist options during his tenure here).

True story!

Still, would have been nice to see Walt with someone other than Geno coaching him. He is about as un-guardable as anyone we've had at BU.